Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard

Nutrition-related disease states such as diabetes and obesity may be treatable eventually by the use of therapies at the cellular and molecular levels. The Nutrition Obesity Research Center at Harvard seeks to establish a research environment which encourages the approach to defining common clinical nutrition research problems using the most sophisticated technology and scientific knowledge available.

Recent Work by NORCH Investigators

Childhood undernutrition and growth impairment remain substantial burdens in Sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), a subclinical condition associated with inflammation and malabsorpition in the small intestine, is associated with growth failure. As several studies have demonstrated that individuals with low weight in early childhood are at risk for cardiometabolic disease later in life, NORCH Associate Director Dr. Christopher P. Duggan, NORCH member Dr. Wafaie Fawzi, and others recently investigated whether EED in infancy is associated with cardiovascular risk measures in mid-childhood. Anti-flagellin IgA is a marker for EED and is significantly higher in Tanzanian infants compared to infants in Boston. Drs. Duggan, Fawzie, et al. demonstrated that flagellin IgA at 6 weeks of age is associated with both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in mid-childhood

Activation of IRF1 in Human Adipocytes Leads to Phenotypes Associated
with Metabolic Disease

Chronic inflammation is thought to contribute to obesity-related insulin resistance. In obesity, adipocytes are an important source of inflammatory cytokines, but the mechanisms of adipose inflammation in obesity remain unclear. To determine transcriptional regulators of adipose inflammation, Cowan and colleagues compared transcriptional profiles of primary human adipocytes from obese donors with those from in vitro-derived adipocytes that were genetically identical to the primary adipocytes.

Our work as a Center is measured in part by the contributions we make to published science. Please cite the National Institutes of Health Grant P30 DK040561 in all publications that results from the use of NORC-H services or resources.